


underneath the stars

by Amathalya



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Love Confessions, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 04:55:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30100632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amathalya/pseuds/Amathalya
Summary: Annette and Mercedes go to the masquerade ball together as they always do. Yet, Annette isn't able to look forward to it as much as previous years because her ever growing feelings for Mercedes hinder her. How will the evening turn out for both of them?Written for the Rare Pair Zine 'A lost Ballroom of Gold'
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic & Hilda Valentine Goneril, Annette Fantine Dominic & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Annette Fantine Dominic/Mercedes von Martritz, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sylvain Jose Gautier & Mercedes von Martritz
Kudos: 1
Collections: A Lost Ballroom of Gold





	underneath the stars

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for and you can check it out [here](https://twitter.com/fe3hballrprzine/status/1371853369502015490?s=21) as it is completely free for everyone! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy that piece as much as I did writing it <3

“Annette stop!” 

Frozen in her position, Annette turned her head towards Hilda behind her. The confusion was clear on her face. She opened her mouth but when Hilda pointed at the ground, Annette closed it without saying a word. Though when looking down, her dress blocked her view. “What’s there?”

With an amused expression, Hilda left her position on the bed and crawled towards Annette. “I don’t think you’d be able to dance with Mercedes if you slice up your foot.” With those words, she grabbed the hand mirror from the ground and waved it at her. 

“Oh, no!” Annette looked at the mirror in Hilda’s hands and for a moment the nervousness for today’s evening made place for the fear of breaking it. “That would have meant seven years of bad luck!” 

Hilda played with one of her pink hair strands and twirled it around her index finger, tilting her head left and right while she looked at herself in the mirror. “What would happen? Getting even clumsier?” A cheerful laugh escaped her with the mental image. 

“Hilda!” Annette exclaimed, cursing the dress when she took a step forward, “Don’t jinx it, please!” She didn’t need bad luck, even less today when she was spending the evening with Mercedes and all of her boisterous feelings for the older woman. 

With a long yawn, Hilda fell back on Annette’s bed, both arms and legs stretched far from her body. “I wish, I could go, too,” she confessed and stroked her hair out of her face. “But I’ve promised Holst to help him out.” 

“That’s still too bad!” Annette turned around, facing Hilda. “I’d love to share a dance with you!”

“Oh, oh! Annie, my darling!” Hilda swung herself up in a sitting position and clapped her hands together. “I’m pretty sure your eyes will be on Mercedes all night long anyway!” 

“Wha-?!” Annette’s words stuck in her throat and her face turned bright red. She wasn’t able to get an immediate counter out. Her mind was running miles, thinking hard about a sassy response. In the end, all she was able to spit out while stumbling over her own tongue was a simple denial. “That’s-That’s not true!! Some of the others will be there, too!” 

The smile Hilda’s lips formed in combination with the slightly squeezed eyes were everything needed for Annette to turn away, arms crossed in front of her chest. Her heart was beating fast, and she was sure, cooking fried eggs on her cheeks would have been a cakewalk. 

With a soft sigh, Annette dropped the pout on her lips and loosened the grip on her arms. She leaned forward to have a closer look of the make-up Hilda helped her with. It made her eyes shine bright. “What about you?” 

“Hmm?” Hilda crossed her legs and supported her elbows on her knees. “What’s with me?” she asked with a voice that bubbled over with innocence. There was no way, Hilda wouldn’t know what Annette had meant. 

“You know,” Annette swallowed the lump in her throat down. “Is there anyone you like?”

An amused laugh escaped Hilda. “Of course!”, she answered her friend and counted on her finger. “There’s Marianne, Caspar, Lysithea, Balthus-”

With each person Hilda listed, Annette’s eyes grew bigger until she realized, Hilda was teasing her. “Wha- Hilda!” She didn’t know what she actually wanted to say and Hilda burst out in a loud laugh and held her belly. “Hilda!! That’s not what I meant and you know that!” 

When Hilda was able to stop laughing, she swiped the tears in the corner of her eyes away. “I’m sorry,” she apologized and clapped her hands together. “Can you forgive me?”

Annette had her lips curled and her arms crossed again. “Maybe,” she then agreed. “If you buy me a piece of my favorite cake!”

“Alright!” With that out of the field, Hilda rolled herself out of the bed and walked towards Annette, pulling a bit on the puffy sleeves of her dress and adjusted one of the clips that was supposed to be hidden in the orange hair. “It’s about time you meet up with Mercedes.” 

Hearing the few syllables of her friend’s name made Annette’s heart skip a beat. To get herself together, she clapped her cheeks and grabbed the mask. Hilda helped her to put it on. “I’m nervous,” Annette said when she got the full picture of herself in the mirror.

“It’s horrifying, right?” Hilda’s voice had changed from teasing to soft and empathic. “But I’m sure you’ll rock that.” Then, for a brief moment, her eyes widened, and she raised her finger. “I almost forgot something!” With that, she left Annette’s side and rushed towards her bag, taking an object out of it before she appeared right next to her again. 

Before Annette was able to ask, Hilda reached around her shoulders. She flinched in surprise. The metal of the necklace was cold on her skin, but she instantly loved the filigree design of the charm when her eyes fell on it.

“It’s a lucky charm for the clumsiest person I know,” Hilda explained and elbowed Annette gently. “It’s a heart sitting in a paper plane. You never know where your life will go but your heart will always find the right direction, Annie.” With that, she kissed her friend’s cheek. “So don’t overthink it.” 

It took all of Annette to hold back her tears and not ruin the hard work, Hilda has put into her make-up. “Thank you, Hilda!” 

Hilda smacked her back and smiled at Annette. “Thank me with not stumbling in your heels or over your dress. Don’t get your drink on anyone else and don’t step on Mercedes’s feet-”

“Hilda!! Stop that!!” Annette interrupted her and while taking a footstep forward to put emphasis on her words, she tripped by stepping on the hem of her dress. Lucky for her, Hilda caught her.

“I’ll bring you to the dance hall. I’m not sure if I can leave you unsupervised,” Hilda said and laughed behind her hand. Nonetheless, her amusement was visible in her eyes. “Or else you may break your leg before it even started.”

A light pink decorated Annette’s cheeks, a pout her lips. 

When they stepped outside together, it was still warm but the sun was setting. Voices came from all sides and it was a colorful ocean of dresses and suits. Annette couldn’t help looking down on her own, stroking over it gently. She had memorized the feeling of the fabric, therefore even with gloves, it felt soft. 

_ Annette, you can do it. One step after another and speak one sentence at a time.  _

“Annie, sweetheart, are you listening to me?” Hilda asked next to her while she walked her friend to the entrance of the huge building. Annette looked at her, a clueless expression on her face. “I asked if you have your ticket with you,” she repeated her question.

For a brief moment, Annette’s eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. She did have it with her, didn’t she? “Of course, it’s right here in my-”

“Dearest friend’s hand.” Hilda laughed and hit her head with the ticket. “You’re such a big airhead.” Then she carefully hugged Annette. “I swear, if you don’t tell me all the news, I’ll find ways to torture them out of you.”

Annette couldn’t stop the giggle coming up and reassured Hilda that she would be the first one to hear everything. “Thank you for helping me out.” 

Hilda waved briefly at Annette while she walked towards the entrance door, scanning the area for Mercedes. 

“I’m here, Annie!” 

Scared like a kitten, Annette felt as she jumped a few meters up.. “Mercie!” 

If she was honest, Annette merely recognized her friend thanks to her gentle voice. The dress Mercedes wore was out of this world and the mask on her face complimented the outfit fully. It was hard for her to say something about it without sounding like a naive child trying to describe the show they loved. “You look beautiful.”

She sounded  _ worse.  _

Mercedes gave a light bow as a thank you, raising the dress a bit. “I’m honoured to hear that from you. Your dress looks marvelous on you, too. I almost didn’t recognize you with it.” 

With a soft hug, they greeted each other and Annette couldn’t help but notice the sweet scent around her best friend. “I’m sorry, did you wait long?”, she asked her and nervously fidgeted with her fingers. 

Mercedes shook her head. “I’m fine, Annie. Ashe was here until a moment ago and I had the chance to talk to Ingrid.” With an elegant movement, she stroked a loose hair strand behind her ear and tapped her mask a little to adjust the position on her nose. 

Hearing the casual talk, gave Annette the chance to relax both her body and mind, and she jumped onto the wagon. “Oh, I’m glad! I haven’t seen them since we graduated. How are they doing?”

“Hmm,” Mercedes hummed and offered Annette an arm to which she linked them happily. “Ashe is here with Dimitri. Did you know they ended up dating right after our graduation?” 

Annette shook her head. She didn’t know about the love life of her former classmates because back then she was too busy studying to notice her own feelings. “They always looked good together. I’m happy for them.” She didn’t like it but a bit of jealousy washed through her body. 

“Right?” Mercedes gave her ticket to Seteth, who was controlling all the tickets, and received a colorful paper in exchange. “I feel like we will get wedding invitations soon!” A lighthearted giggle followed her words. 

“Oh? I hope we can attend it together by then.” It took her a confused look from Mercedes, to understand what she had dropped “I mean- work! We are both working so hard that-!” 

Amused, Mercedes shook her head. “Oh, Annie!” 

After receiving her own paper stripe, a light orange, from Seteth and the best wishes for the evening, she followed Mercedes to the huge bamboo stalk which was overflowing with knotted papers. She took one of the pencils and started to write her wish down:

_ I always want to be with Mercedes. Don’t let me ruin our friendship. _

She had thought a long time about what she should write down as her wish. Annette walked over to knot it onto the bamboo and made sure nobody was able to see it. Though when Mercedes appeared behind her, she flinched back and held her hand in front of her heart. “By Sothis, you scared me, Mercie!” 

“Oh?” Mercedes smiled at her. “Do you keep any secrets from me? Writing about your crush?”

_ Does she know?! Is this some twisted thing of fate? _

Annette was pretty sure her heart stopped working for half an eternity and it was only when Mercedes bumped her fist slightly against her shoulder that she entered reality again. She blinked a few times and the horror scenarios faded into the back of her mind. 

“It was a joke, Annie.” Mercedes looked at Annette. “We both know, it’s a bad omen to reveal the wish you offer the stars this night.” With a gentle gesture, she took Annette’s hand and squeezed it. 

A nervous laugh escaped Annette. 

Mercedes tilted her head and her eyes softened more. “Is anything wrong? You’re acting not like yourself today.” 

Annette’s eyes fell down on their joined hands and took a deep breath. “Everything’s fine,” she answered and gave it her best to convince Mercedes with one of her cheerful smiles. “Really, it’s just the lack of sleep because I was reading too long into the night.” 

The worried expression on Mercedes’s face faded slowly, yet, before she was able to say anything else, Annette pulled her into the crowd of dancing people. “Come on, let’s dance.” She cheerfully smiled at Mercedes and actually felt the stiffness going away. 

It was not a song Annette knew, but she couldn’t care less about it while she danced through the ballroom with Mercedes by her side. It made her feel all bubbly and happy when the skirts of their dresses flew together; the music twirling around them. 

Being like that with Mercedes felt close to dancing on top of fluffy clouds. Light-hearted and no worries about feelings. The two of them together as they were still going to the academy, carefree. 

“Annette! Mercedes!” 

Both of the girls turned around when they heard someone calling them from afar, searching the spot where the voice was coming from. Annette instantly knew it was Sylvain. Even his red hair usually stuck out in crowds, it was actually hard to find him right away with the people around them. 

“Oh no, I’m disappointed, girls,” he dramatically sighed behind them and both Annette and Mercedes turned around to him. “How did you not see me? Don’t tell me I lost all the brilliance I had back in the academy days.” 

Both girls hid a laugh behind their hands. “I don’t know which brilliance you’re even talking about,” Annette teased him and elbowed his side. Without doubt, Sylvain still had this brotherly aura she always felt around him. “Definitely not the brilliance in knowing what girls want.” 

Sylvain laughed about her counterattack. “Ouch, that hurt real bad!” One of the girls each linked with one of his arms, he guided them through the crowd to the side where they were able to talk a little bit better. “So how are things going between you two? It's been so long since we saw each other!”

Annette’s face flamed up, and she was about to panic, looking down to the floor and unable to take a glimpse of her friends right in front of her. Even less bringing out one word. 

“Sylvain,” Mercedes spoke with her calm voice, “you know we work at the Monastery so paying us a visit wouldn’t hurt you, right?” A soft smile appeared on her lips. 

In his defense, Sylvain raised both of his arms, his hands flat in front of him. “I’m in high demand. It’s hard to find time off.” 

A raised eyebrow was the answer of both girls and Annette was glad about the change of topic. She loved Sylvain, but she didn’t trust herself to not tell him things right here.

Dramatically, Sylvain placed his hand over his heart and the other one over his forehead. “The girls don’t trust my words anymore. What has happened?” 

Annette was unable to stop the laugh coming out of her throat and she felt so light. How did Sylvain always manage to blow away all her worries? “You’re such a dork, Sylvain, do you know this?” 

“You’re too nice, Annie,” Mercedes said and elbowed the redhead in front of them. “I’m glad you’re doing fine though. It’s gotten so hard to meet our old friends regularly.”

“You’re right but we shouldn’t overshadow the evening with sad thoughts,” Sylvain said and gave both of the girls a brief hug, not wanting to ruin their dresses. Then he adjusted the mask on his face a little bit and bowed in front of them. “I’ll have to excuse myself now, ladies.” 

“See you later!”

When Sylvain had disappeared in the crowd, Mercedes turned around to Annette. “What about we get some drinks and take a small break from dancing, Annie?” 

With Sylvain’s lighthearted aura missing, Annette could feel the nervousness creeping back into her stomach. Slowly, she nodded as an answer to her friend’s question and blinked a few times to focus on her. What would she give to be able to be her quirky self right now. Instead, her stomach made loops and she felt unwell. 

Annette was pretty sure she wouldn’t touch any of the alcohol but maybe some cold grape soda could help her calm down and make that dizzy feeling go away. However, before Annette was even able to take more than one step forward, she stumbled and fell against Mercedes. 

“Annie!”, her friend exclaimed worriedly and held onto her friend to offer her support, trying to help her back up in a straight position. “What’s up? Don’t you feel okay?” 

Annette wanted to deny it, to say that she was okay and took a wrong step only, but she knew Mercedes would see through her lie without any second of hesitance. “I feel a little bit dizzy. It’s probably the warm air.” 

Mercedes raised her hand towards her face before lowering it again, realizing that she wasn’t able to check Annette’s temperature with the mask blocking her skin. “Maybe we should go outside for a little bit,” she suggested and after Annette had nodded, she guided her into the backyard of the building. 

It was almost empty outside, merely a few couples getting some fresh air, too.

To be honest, Annette was feeling better with the fresh evening air. Yet, the fact that she was close to Mercedes, and the wind making her flowery scent dancing around her nose in its purest form, didn’t help her to actually get rid of the dizziness. 

Carefully, Mercedes guided her to the fountain and helped Annette to sit down before she placed herself next to her. “Annie, you should have told me that you are not feeling well.”

Feeling guilt creeping up in her body, Annette fidgeted with her fingers on her lap and pulled on the tips of her thin gloves without pulling them off. “It’s just- I kinda forgot when Sylvain was here.” 

For a moment, Mercedes’ eyes widened in surprise even Annette wasn’t able to see it. “Sylvain always had that kind of impact on you, huh?” 

“Yes!” Annette answered without hesitating and not realizing the change in Mercedes voice, her lips forming a soft smile. “He’s good at boxing me out of my mind and forcing me to enjoy my time with other things than books.” She looked up at the sky, the moon and stars visible. “He always was like a big brother to me.” 

Her eyes wandered from the sky back down to her fingers. “I miss him around the monastery,” she confessed to Mercedes, again not noticing the change in her posture, relaxing with her words. “So much has changed since we all graduated.” 

“You’re right,” Mercedes agreed and shifted a little bit in her sitting position, the fabrics of her dress shifting. “But being here with you, it almost feels like being back in our academy days.” 

“Oh but there’s one thing that hasn’t changed.” 

“Me and you, right?” Mercedes looked up at the sky now before her eyes wandered to her friend. “We’re the same old friends we always were.” 

Annette was unable to look back at her, eyes focusing on her hands. “Yes, we are the same-” She stopped her mouth before she was able to finish the sentence. Was that how Mercedes thought of them? Friends and nothing else? Was that her answer? It hurt more than she had expected. 

“Annie? Is something wrong?” 

With Mercedes’s worried voice, her arm around her body and her scent being more present again, Annette couldn’t stop her next words from bursting out from her. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship.” 

Confusion was clearly written all over Mercedes’s face and for a moment, she didn’t know what to say. “Why would you ruin our friendship, Annie?”, she asked eventually, her voice soft and reassuring. “Has anything happened?” 

Annette didn’t answer and her brain was running miles after miles because she wasn’t able to grab one coherent thought. 

“Annie, you know you can tell me everything, right?”

A nod was her answer, her eyes glued onto her own fingers intertwined. “I love you, Mercie.” 

The second the words were out, Annette couldn’t tell if she felt better or worse about the situation. Still, the moment of silence between them let her heart slip down her body, down to her slightly hurting toes. 

Did she choose the wrong words? For sure there had to be a better way to confess your feelings without being so direct. She never felt comfortable hiding it but on the other hand, she was never able to gather enough courage to confess her feelings.

“I love you, too, Annie.”

The words almost felt like a soft breeze, disappearing before Annette had a chance to notice them. Yet, Annette couldn’t help but looking up from her hands, to Mercedes. Her heart beat super fast and her face felt extremely warm.

Annette opened and closed her mouth like a fish on land. “But I mean in a romantic way, you know? I know it’s weird after all those years but when Felix was visiting half a year ago, he smacked the words into my face and-”

“What words?”, Mercedes interrupted her and despite it being barely visible with her mask, she had raised her eyebrows.

“Oh, uhm-” Annette was caught off guard. “I can’t hear about you two lovebirds anymore,” she then answered eventually, parroting Felix's grumpy voice. “I’m sorry mister  _ I’m-the-best-swordsman _ that I talk too much-”

Mercedes raised her hands to stop Annette from talking. “Annie, Annie!” 

The second she heard her name in Mercedes’ voice, she stopped talking, only staring at her while realizing what she said hit her hard. 

With a soft smile on her lips, reaching her eyes, Mercedes grabbed Annette’s hand and intertwined their fingers. “Annie,” she said and leaned in closer to touch their foreheads with each other. “I feel exactly the same way about you.”

The warm breath of Mercedes on her cheeks and lips gave the butterflies another excuse to dance in loops in her stomach. She really hoped she wouldn’t mess up the moment now. “I’m sorry, I just-”

Before she was able to finish her sentence, she felt the warmth of Mercedes lips on hers. It was a brief moment, half a second, but it was enough to fully relax and kick her worries far away. 

“Can you- uhm-” Annette swallowed hard and chewed on her bottom lip. “Do this again?”

A chuckle escaped Mercedes before she cupped Annette’s face and kissed her tenderly.


End file.
